chosentofollowhim

“IN THE BEGINNING”…the words that famously introduce chapter one of the holy scriptures. Genesis means beginning or origin. It’s the place where it all began on this vast and mysterious place we call earth. The genesis of this season in my life is profound. In the beginning, the Lord began revealing new and revolutionary truths to me, some which have literally removed and washed the scales from my eyes. Seeing with clarity is exciting, and at times, overwhelming. The day I had laser surgery on my eyes was one of the most memorable days of my life. Seeing the definition of the leaves on the trees when walking out of the eye clinic that day was unforgettable; paradigm shifting. When we live so long with clouded vision we become reliant on other senses, other voices, and even other narratives. We forget to dig deeper, think critically and seek truth for ourselves. However, when we have eyes to see clearly…our entire world can be flipped upside down and turned inside out. God is vastly moving in these days and dismantling the scales from the eyes of His remnant. Hungry souls are harkening for a deeper, godly wisdom, that only the Most High can give. I pray for these days. I pray for the bride who is preparing for her groom and King! May we not take for granted this moment in time but ruthlessly pursue Him and be transformed in to the spotless bride which He desires and is coming back for.

The tabernacle of Moses is where it all began. I was doing a Beth Moore study several years ago on the subject and it was like nothing I had ever studied before. The richness of the tabernacle stirred me to want to explore deeper in to God’s Word, the Old Testament, His divine purposes, and ultimately the treasures that I had missed as a life-long believer.

One afternoon I was on the hunt in a book store. I love books and on this particular day, several years ago, I prayed to God to lead me to one that would draw me closer to Him and reveal more of Himself to me. Almost immediately, I was led to a short book describing the feasts of the Lord, it was called Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts by Michael Norton. That evening I went home, began the book and finished it; seven chapters, one for each feast to be exact. By the conclusion, my world was forever changed. Learning and understanding the appointed holy days and feasts of the Lord has been one of the most beautiful and also transformative journeys for me and my family. We have slowly begun to not only observe the festivals but remove the ones that aren’t of the Lord or found in scripture. I am sure you can quickly guess which ones.

The Lord’s feasts were given to Israel after the exodus from Egypt and are declared to Moses in Leviticus 23:

23 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

³ ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lordin all your dwellings.

⁴ ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. ⁵ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶ Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. ⁸ But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and you gather its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.¹¹ He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ Until this very day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new produce. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

¹⁵ ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. ¹⁶ You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ Along with the bread you shall present seven one-year-old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ You shall also offer one male goat as a sin offering, and two male lambs one year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰ The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ On this very day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a permanent statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

²² ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.’”

²³ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble yourselves and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹ If there is any person who does not humble himself on this very day, he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ As for any person who does any work on this very day, that person I will eliminate from among his people. ³¹ You shall not do any work. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³² It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

³³ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord.³⁵ On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. ³⁶ For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall not do any laborious work.

³⁷ ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day— ³⁸ besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your ^[m]vowed and ^[n]voluntary offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹ ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰ Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ So you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, ⁴³ so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” ⁴⁴ So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.

Most people can read through these verses and quickly move on. Many of us do this with the Old Testament because we fail to understand the context and God’s heart and purpose in what we are reading. At times it seems long, boring, and irrelevant. However, when we begin to seek understanding, the Lord is so good to pour out revelation, and that is exactly what He has done for me. I’m grateful and humbled.

The feasts are not only designed and given to Israel but they are also for every professing believer of Yeshua the Messiah. These holy days point to Him prophetically, to His first and second coming. They are linked to the agricultural cycle of God’s calendar, as well as, the moon’s. Our God is overwhelmingly creative and extremely detailed in the orchestration of time: past, present and future. He is unchanging which enables us to trust that His promises and goodness will never return void in our lives. We must be devoted and willing to seek Him with all of our heart, mind and soul to truly glean from all the riches He desires to bestow on us, His children.

THE FEASTS (a glimpse):

PESACH/PASSOVER: Happens on the 14th day of Nissan and is the final plague over Egypt before the exodus when the angel of death passed over the homes of those who obeyed the Lord’s commands of Passover. Yeshua is our perfect and final passover lamb and is crucified.

FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD: Begins the day after Passover and we are to remove the leaven (represents sin) from our household and eating unleavened bread for seven days is a reminder to purge the sin from our lives and teaches us the concept of being in fellowship with the Lord. Yeshua is buried in the tomb and it is because of His perfect sacrifice that ridding ourselves of sin is made possible.

FIRST FRUITS: This begins the day after the Sabbath during the week of Unleavened bread and during the barley harvest when the first of the harvest would be presented t o YHWH. Yeshua is the first fruit offering to the Father and this is the day of His resurrection. It is also when we are to start counting fifty days (counting the omer.)

SHAVUOT/PENTECOST: Fifty days following First Fruits we are to celebrate Shavuot. This is a great memorial of the giving of Torah by God and to His people on Mt. Sinai and then shortly after Messiah’s ascension the Holy Spirit was poured out on this day. This is a celebration of having God’s word and presence of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

YOM TERUAH/FEAST OF TRUMPETS: This is the first of the fall feasts and begins on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month on the Lord’s calendar. It is a day of blasts designated to awaken our souls from slumber and prepare for the coming King. There are numerous scriptures that declare the sounding of the trumpet when Messiah returns. This inevitably points to His second coming and it will happen on this day!

YOM KIPPUR/DAY OF ATONEMENT– Under the Levitical priesthood this day was significant and marks the holiest day, the tenth of Tishri, on the Lord’s calendar. It is the day of national repentance for Israel. Today we can celebrate that Yeshua has atoned for our sins. Prophetically this will be the day of judgement for all of humanity and when those who believe and have been atoned for by Messiah will be separated from those who have not.

SUKKOT/FEAST OF TABERNACLES– On the fifteenth of Tishri we remember the days when Israel spent living in tents in the wilderness and when YHWH dwelled with them by way of the tabernacle. It is no surprise that is believed that this is when Messiah was born. This seven day celebration looks somewhat like a camp out in tents or booths. We refelect on this being our temporary dwelling space while we look forward to our eternal dwelling place when Yeshua will dwell and tabernacle with us forever!

Much of the ekklesia believes that these holy days are given to the Jewish people only, but this is a graven mistake and is not supported by scripture. Deuteronomy 16:14 proclaims from God’s mouth that His people, no matter what background or ethnicity are to celebrate these days!

“…in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Messiah.” -Colossians 2:16-17

It is obvious when reading about the Lord’s feasts that they are intended to be celebrated and observed by all of God’s children and not only for the Jews. In fact, everyone I know who has begun studying the feasts has gained a much deeper reverence, love and affection for Yeshua and the Father. God tells us that when we ask Him for wisdom He is delighted to render it upon us. So sisters and brothers, I pray that this is a season of seeking wisdom, Godly wisdom. Pray fervently to God that He will bless you with revelation of His ways; that you will be given eyes to see the whole context of His story, not just the bits and pieces that we go back to over and over again.

Our worldview can be such a disadvantage when it comes to our knowledge and comprehension of the Bible. We must dig deeper. If we can attain the understanding of a first century Israelite and consume scripture through this unique lens, we will be more filled, grounded, and equipped to defend the faith we love so much. Maranatha!

My friend Val said this so perfectly, “Gentile believers were never meant to be “separate” from the first believers (the disciples were all Jewish believers). We were meant to be one Body because we were grafted in to God’s promise to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, through Jesus’ sacrifice for all who know Him personally as their Savior.”